The Narcissus Trap
by ElliotJA
Summary: Finding themselves in a new and mysterious environment, the Doctor and Jamie discover that danger can be found in very innocuous things.


The sight that greeted the Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon as they stepped out of the TARDIS doors was most unexpected: Multiple duplicates of themselves, albeit slightly distorted, staring back at them. "Doctor, where are we?" Jamie gasped in surprise.

Beside him, the Doctor was chuckling and grinning like a child with a toy as he responded. "I don't know, Jamie...but it appears to be a hall of mirrors!" With an amused laugh he walked right up to one of his reflections, and the effect was of two Doctors standing face to face and bringing the knuckles of their hands together as he tapped the smooth, glass-like surface. "It's the sort of thing they have in funfairs."

"Funfairs? Could that be where we are then?" asked Jamie, still standing near the TARDIS.

The Doctor turned from his reflection and surveyed the circular chamber they had materialized in, sniffing the air slightly as he did so. "Somehow, I doubt it. But we won't know for sure unless we do a little exploring." He started towards an opening in the wall. "Follow me, Jamie, and - "

"'Don't wander off,'" Jamie finished the Doctor's sentence for him as he began pacing after him. "Aye, you don't need to keep telling me, y'know!" Stepping through the door, they were met by yet more reflections as they walked down a long corridor lined with mirror after mirror. Even the floor and ceiling were reflective. They wandered down corridor after corridor for a while, encountering no one and hearing nothing. "Och, there's nothing here, Doctor," Jamie eventually grumbled, growing bored. "Can we nae go back to the TARDIS?"

"Now, Jamie," the Doctor, walking in front, gently admonished him. "I'd have thought by now you'd have learned that patience - oh my word!" Turning a bend, he suddenly froze in his tracks, his face filled with horror. Jamie darted forward and went cold at the sight of two human skeletons sprawled on the floor ahead of them, their empty eye sockets staring at a wall of mirrors and the bony fingers of one reached out and almost touching the smooth surface. What clothing they had worn was reduced to rags.

"What could've happened to them?" Jamie wondered aloud as he and the Doctor walked cautiously loser to the long-dead corpses. "Could they have gotten lost in this maze and starved to death?"

The Doctor was kneeling down beside the nearest skeleton, thoughtfully looking first at the dark holes in the skull where eyes had once stared out, and then at the white digits stretched out for the mirror. "That is one possibility..." he murmured, before straightening up and casting his eyes warily around. "And yet I have a feeling something more sinister happened...and could still happen. Be extremely careful, Jamie; underestimate nothing." Gingerly bypassing the two carcasses, they probed further up the corridor.

 _Ourselves_ , Jamie thought as he glanced at himself in the walls. _All that's with us here are ourselves_. He suddenly stopped and peered more closely at one reflection of himself. Not a bad specimen of a Scot; he felt he looked quite dashing and romantic in his white shirt, kilt and boots. Stepping closer, Jamie found himself noticing what a handsome rogue he had turned out to be and smiled, admiring how clean and white his teeth were. He was lucky to have such good teeth; not many folks did back where he came from.

He saw himself on the Culloden moor, wind in his hair and whirling a claymore as he charged valiantly into battle against the Redcoats, the heart and soul of the Highlands! He was Jamie McCrimmon, of the Clan McCrimmon - handsome, noble, brave and cunning, fighter not just of Redcoats, but of ogres and imps on fantastic worlds beyond mortal ken. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard the Doctor calling to him, but it was unimportant next to the wonderful image in front of him. He never wanted to look away from it, it - he - was so glorious!

When the Doctor, his face stricken with alarm, interposed himself between Jamie and his reflection, shouting "Jamie! Jamie, whatever it is that's holding you, you have to fight it Concentrate on me, on my voice!", Jamie's response was to knock him to the floor with a shove. A few seconds later the perfect image was suddenly marred by jagged cracks spreading like lightning across the reflective surface, and he clutched his head and winced as something screamed inside his brain. The next thing he was aware of was the Doctor grabbing him and hauling him down the corridor, yelling "Come on, Jamie, we have to get back to the TARDIS!"

Jamie's senses were still in disarray when he looked up and saw the blue bulk of the TARDIS directly ahead. A few seconds of the Doctor hurriedly fumbling at the lock and they were inside, Jamie stumbling to a chair as the Doctor sealed the doors behind them and activated the engines. "Doctor...Doctor, what was that?" he groaned as soon as they were off.

"We both very nearly fell victim to some sort of predatory alien force," the Doctor grimly replied, standing at the control console. "Now I know what happened to to those two poor souls we found. They were mezmerized by whatever was inside those mirrors, so they were captivated by their own reflections, to the point they couldn't move and slowly starved to death! Fortunately, my will was strong enough for me to resist, and I used the sonic screwdriver to break the mirrors and free you." He gave a deep sigh. "We're away from it now though, whatever it was...safe in the TARDIS. How do you feel, Jamie?"

"Weak, tired..." Jamie replied, rubbing his temples. "Got a wee headache too."

"Yes, well, I think the best thing you should do is get some rest," the Doctor said.

"Aye, Doctor, I think I will," murmured Jamie as he slowly got up and made his way to the door. Once in his own room he headed to the wash basin and swilled his face in cool water...not once looking up at the small mirror on the wall.


End file.
